Worcester and Birmingham Canal

					BCN Main Line
					Gas Street Basin (Worcester Bar)
					Holliday Street aqueduct
				86	A4540 Middle Ring Road
					Edgbaston Tunnel (105 yd)
				81	Cross-City Line
					Dudley Canal Selly Oak Jn
					Ariel Aqueduct
				80	A38 Bristol Road
				79	Cross-City line
				75	A441 Pershore Road
				74	Camp Hill line
					Stratford-upon-Avon Canal
					-- Kings Norton Jn
					Wast Hill Tunnel (2726 yd)
				67	A441 road bridge
					Upper Bittell Resr and feeder
					Lower Bittell Resr
					M42 road bridge
					Crown Meadow Arm
					Shortwood Tunnel (613 yd)
					Tardebigge Tunnel (580 yd)
					Tardebigge Wharf
					Tardebigge Resr / engine house
				29-58	Tardebigge Locks (30)
				23-28	Stoke Locks (6)
				17-22	Astwood Locks (6)
				37	Railway bridge
					Droitwich Canal
				35	B4090 Hanbury Road
					Dunhampstead Tunnel (230 yd)
				24A	M5 road bridge
				11-16	Offerton Locks (6)
				22A	A449 bridge
				5-10	Locks (6)
				4	Blockhouse Lock
				3	Sidbury Lock, Worcester
					Diglis Basins and dry dock
				1-2	wide beam locks (2)
					River Severn

The Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Birmingham and Worcester in England. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn (just after the river lock) and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is 29 miles (47 km) long. There are 58 locks in total on the canal, including the 30 Tardebigge Locks, one of the largest lock flights in Europe. The canal climbs 428 feet (130 m) from Worcester to Birmingham.

History

The parliamentary bill permitting its construction was passed in 1791 empowering the company to raise £180,000 (equivalent to £27.4 million in 2023),^[1] through 1,800 shares at a cost of £100 each. It also allowed them to raise a further £70,000, if needed, amongst themselves or by the mortgage of tolls and rates. The Act also permitted the company to allow landowners on the line to build wharfs and wharfhouse, and if they refuse to, the company are allowed to if needed. A further Act of Parliament authorised the raising of £149,929 amongst themselves or through the creation of new shares. However, the company were unable to raise the full amount of money authorised by the second Act, and so another was passed allowing them to raise £49,680. Another Act was passed to obtain more money in 1808. This Act empowered the company to raise £168,000 through the creation of 4,200 shares at £40 each. A final Act was passed in 1815 after the company had purchased land for reservoirs, which was not permitted in the previous Acts. The Act permitted the company to sell the land and to pay a debt of £29,096 (equivalent to £2,720,000 in 2023),^[1] to the treasurers by 29 September 1815 as well, otherwise it would be taken out of the proceeds raised from selling the land.

The canal was surveyed by Josiah Clowes and John Snape. Its engineers changed often, and included Thomas Cartwright, John Woodhouse and William Crosley.

Construction of a double barge-width (14 ft) canal began in 1792 from the Birmingham end, but progressed slowly. Selly Oak was reached in October 1795 and Kings Norton Junction by May 1796, meeting the new Stratford-upon-Avon Canal which had by then reached Hockley Heath. By March 1797 the 2726 yard (2493 m) Wast Hills Tunnel was open and the canal was trading to Hopwood. In 1807 the canal reached Tardebigge without the use of locks. From Worcester Bar to Tardebigge top lock, the canal is at the 453 ft Birmingham Level. The cost of building 14-foot (4.3 m) locks was too great so the 56 locks down to Worcester were built to the narrow 7-foot (2.1 m) specification, with the final two locks connecting to the Severn in Worcester being 14-foot (4.3 m) to allow river craft access to Diglis Basin.

The final 16 miles (26 km) was opened in December 1815. Plans to construct basins at Lowesmoor and Diglis were carried out eventually.

The Dudley Canal Line No 2 was built through the Lapal Tunnel to meet the canal at Selly Oak in 1798. After repeated collapses, the tunnel was finally abandoned in 1917 leaving a short stretch navigable between Selly Oak and a brick works at California until 1953, after which it was drained and filled in. A campaign group, The Lapal Canal Trust, is working to restore it, with a diversion around the tunnel.^[2]

A major user of the canal was the Cadbury chocolate factories at Bournville and Blackpole, Worcester.

Birmingham terminus

For twenty years direct connection to the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) was prevented by the Worcester Bar, a physical barrier at Gas Street Basin, Birmingham designed so that the BCN would not lose water to the Worcester and Birmingham. Cargoes had to be laboriously manhandled between boats on either side. In 1815 an Act allowed the creation of a stop lock and the bar was breached. The Worcester and Birmingham raised their water level by six inches to minimise water loss and today the two pairs of lock gates have been removed. There were separate toll offices either side of the bar for the two canal companies. The bar still exists, with boats moored to both sides of it.

The commercial terminus in Birmingham was Worcester Wharf, a large complex extending from the bar along Bridge Street, Gas Street and Granville Street. Part of it now forms a water front to The Mailbox shopping and residential complex.

Birmingham West Suburban Railway

After the development of the new Birmingham New Street, a group of local business men noticed the resultant need for additional railway capacity south, through what were the under developed suburbs of south Birmingham and villages of northern Worcestershire. They therefore proposed development of a new branch railway, following the route of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal south to the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway to allow access to their new station at Kings Norton.

Needing finance for construction of the BWSR, the newly formed Midland Railway became involved in the deal. An eventual agreement was reached with the then loss making canal company, who would be paid a rent for the land, which later became a guarantee of a 1% share dividend.^[3] The payments to the canal company and development began in 1873, and the line was running by 1875. Originally the railway terminated at Granville Street station and later the Central Goods station and goods yard through a tunnel under the canal, both stations now demolished and built upon.

Today it forms a large part of the southern section of the Cross-City Line which runs in another tunnel under the canal adjacent to the Holliday Street Aqueduct.

Today

At Selly Oak, a new aqueduct, the 'Ariel Aqueduct', was constructed in 2011 to carry the canal over a new section of the A38.^[4]

The canal is popular for leisure and has a number of narrowboat hire centres at Alvechurch, Worcester, Tardebigge, Dunhampstead and Stoke Prior.

The canal forms part of the Stourport Ring, which is one of the popular cruising rings for holiday boating. The ring takes in parts of four waterways, is 74 miles (119 km) long, and includes 105 locks. Another ring which includes the Worcester and Birmingham Canal is the Avon Ring, which is 109 miles (175 km) long with 129 locks, and also includes parts of four waterways.

References

^ ^a ^b UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
^ "The Lapal Canal – Project Summary". Lapal Canal Trust. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
^ "Timeline - Railways in King's Norton". kingsnorton.info. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
^ Elkes, Neil (28 December 2010). "Giant trucks wheel Selly Oak rail bridge into place". birminghammail.co.uk.

Shill,Ray (1999). Birmingham's Canals. Sutton. ISBN 0-7509-2077-7.
Joseph Priestley (1831) Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railways, Throughout Great Britain, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green
Ordnance Survey First Edition map

External links

Worcester Birmingham & Droitwich Canals Society

52°28′37″N 1°54′32″W / 52.4769°N 1.9090°W / 52.4769; -1.9090

[inflation-UK-1] UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.

[LCT-2] "The Lapal Canal – Project Summary". Lapal Canal Trust. Retrieved 26 February 2018.

[3] "Timeline - Railways in King's Norton". kingsnorton.info. Retrieved 16 June 2010.

[4] Elkes, Neil (28 December 2010). "Giant trucks wheel Selly Oak rail bridge into place". birminghammail.co.uk.

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[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e River Severn, Great Britain
Administrative areas	Powys Shropshire Worcestershire Gloucestershire Monmouthshire South Gloucestershire Bristol North Somerset Somerset Newport Cardiff Vale of Glamorgan
Settlements	Llanidloes Newtown Welshpool Shrewsbury Ironbridge Bridgnorth Bewdley Stourport Worcester Tewkesbury Gloucester Berkeley Chepstow Avonmouth
Major tributaries	River Vyrnwy River Tern Cound Brook River Stour River Teme Warwickshire Avon River Wye Bristol Avon River Usk
Flows into	Severn Estuary Bristol Channel
Linked canals	Staffordshire & Worcestershire Worcester & Birmingham Droitwich Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Thames & Severn Coalport Gloucester & Sharpness Stroudwater Navigation Coombe Hill
Major crossings	Welsh Bridge English Bridge The Iron Bridge Mythe Bridge Over Bridge Prince of Wales Bridge Severn Bridge Aust Severn Powerline Crossing Severn Tunnel All crossings of the River Severn
Longest rivers of the United Kingdom Severn Thames Trent Great Ouse Wye Ure/Ouse Tay Spey Clyde Tweed Avon Nene Eden Dee

v t e Navigable canals of the United Kingdom
England	Aire and Calder¹ Ashby-de-la-Zouch² Ashton Basingstoke Canal Beverley Beck Birmingham Canal Navigations³ Bridgewater Bridgwater and Taunton Buckingham Arm² Bude² Calder and Hebble¹ Cambridgeshire Lodes³ Chelmer and Blackwater¹ Chesterfield² Chichester² Coventry Driffield Droitwich Erewash Foss Dyke Gloucester and Sharpness Grand Union³ Grand Western² Grantham² Herefordshire and Gloucestershire² Hollinwood Branch² Huddersfield Broad Huddersfield Narrow Ipswich and Stowmarket¹² Kennet and Avon¹ Lancaster² Leeds and Liverpool³ Lee Navigation¹ Limehouse Llangollen Lydney Macclesfield Maidenhead Waterways Manchester Bolton & Bury² Manchester Ship Canal Market Weighton² Middle Level Navigations³ Montgomery² North Walsham and Dilham¹² Nottingham² Oxford¹ Peak Forest Pocklington² Regent's Canal Ribble Link¹ Ripon Rochdale Royal Military Canal Sankey² Selby Sheffield and South Yorkshire¹³ Shropshire Union³ Sleaford¹² South Forty-Foot Drain Staffordshire and Worcestershire Stort¹ Stourbridge Stratford-upon-Avon Stroudwater² Thames and Medway² Thames and Severn² Trent and Mersey³ Weaver¹ Wey and Arun² Wey and Godalming¹ Wilts & Berks² Witham Navigable Drains³ Worcester and Birmingham
Northern Ireland	Coalisland Canal Lagan Canal Newry Canal Shannon–Erne Waterway Strabane Canal Ulster Canal
Scotland	Caledonian Canal¹ Crinan Canal Forth and Clyde Union Canal
Wales	Llangollen Canal Monmouthshire and Brecon² Montgomery Canal² Neath and Tennant² Swansea Canal²
Features	Aqueducts (list) Basins Locks Rings Tunnels (list) Winding holes
Related topics	British Waterways Canal & River Trust Scottish Canals History of the British canal system London Canal Museum Manchester Pusher Narrowboats National Waterways Museum Navigable aqueduct Waterways Ireland
Notes: ¹ Contains canalised river. ² Partly or mostly navigable, and/or under restoration. ³ A system of canals. Canals which form part of this system are not listed here individually.